When she saw this, Violet Elizabeth Miller almost screamed. The taxi driver in front even turned around to take a look.
"No... it's impossible..."
She could never forget those three claw marks that dismembered her parents... Originally, she thought it was some wild beast or a maniac... But how could it be like this? She had never imagined it would be...
"Maybe you find it hard to believe. We thought it was incredible at that time too. But the movement of the claw marks was so obvious. Because the claw marks the day before were at least about ten meters away from the bedroom door, but this time it was at most only five meters! Such an obvious difference could be seen with the naked eye!
However, as terrified as we were, we couldn't explain it with something like ghosts. Out of caution, we decided to sleep in another room, so we went to Orion's room. Fortunately, you were living in the dormitory at that time and didn't have to be frightened like this...
But it was no use! Today, the claw marks appeared at the door of Orion's room! And the claw marks in front of our original bedroom completely disappeared without a trace. By this point, we had to admit that these claw marks were not left by any creature in this world. They came from another world! No matter where we fled, it could follow us!"
Seeing this, Violet's tears had already wet the diary paper. She sobbed and said to her brother, "How could this be? Mom and Dad were good people... We didn't do anything wrong. Why do we have to suffer such a disaster? Why do we have to run away? Why..."
"We have to run away. This is the only way. Our parents finally realized that they couldn't defeat these terrifying claw marks and chose to accept their fate of death. Because it was useless to run anywhere. The diary also mentioned later that in order to avoid these terrifying claw marks, they tried to stay in a hotel, but the claw marks would still follow them..."
This was how the last page of the diary was written.
"Finally, we decided to use the last method. We must solve this problem before you come back from school. Although we considered discussing it with someone, we were worried that we would implicate more people. Tonight, we will stay by the wall outside the bedroom all night, waiting for the owner of those claw marks to come. No matter what kind of monster it is, we have decided to fight to the death.
Listen... You will come back tomorrow. I will repeat it one last time. If we die... you must run away! You must!"
In the end, the two of them died.
Strangely, the two who were originally waiting by the wall outside the bedroom, determined to stay up all night waiting for the claw marks to appear, died inside the bedroom. There was not a single drop of blood in the corridor.
This was beyond human imagination.
Even if they gave the diary to the police, the police wouldn't believe it. Even if they did believe it, they couldn't protect them. So, it was better to rely on themselves and leave this city first.
"Violet, give me your phone."
"Huh? Why? Brother?"
"Just give it to me first."
Violet took out her phone in confusion and gave it to Orion. Then, Orion took out his own phone. Just then, the taxi happened to drive to the bridge. Orion threw both phones out of the window and into the river below.
"No... Brother! What, what are you doing? There are a lot of my friends' numbers saved in the phone..."
"That's exactly my purpose. Violet, from today on, we must completely say goodbye to our past life. Whether it's relatives or friends... they will no longer have any connection with us. If we want to survive, we must give up all this. Violet, I can't lose you again. From now on, I will take care of you!"
Her brother fulfilled his promise. Everything changed. They came to a new city and changed schools, but they didn't stay in each city for long. About one or two years later, whenever there were reports of abnormal homicides or disappearances in the newspapers, her brother would immediately prepare to move to a new city. For seven years, Violet had lived through frequent relocations like this.
The reason they finally settled in this city was mainly because her brother was tired. He also understood that no matter where they fled, there would be inexplicable supernatural phenomena. Moreover, Violet, who had finally achieved her dream of becoming a reporter in this city, didn't want to move at all. And her brother's horror novels were becoming more and more successful, which made him regret not using a pen name. In this way, their relatives in the original city might come looking for them.
But Violet was very happy. At least, it would give their relatives the message that the two of them were living well. She had always hoped that one day she could return to the original city to sweep her parents' graves. Several times, she almost reached the ticket window in front of the train station, but in the end, she gave up because of the terrifying claw marks recorded in the diary. The only thing she could do was to place a bunch of white lilies at home on the anniversary of her parents' death.
"Miss Miller... Miss Miller, what's wrong with you?"
Zephyr's mother interrupted her thoughts. She immediately woke up and said embarrassedly, "Sorry, I was distracted... Where were we just now?"
That night, Cassius Benjamin Reed and Scarlett Elizabeth Morgan checked into a hotel. They absolutely didn't dare to sleep in their original home anymore. Orion still didn't tell them that Cassius would die the next day.
"What do you think we should do?"
It was already half - past eleven, and Cassius and Scarlett still had no sign of sleepiness.
"Are we... going to die?"
At this moment, Scarlett really regretted it. If she couldn't get the exclusive news, so be it. Now, just to get a little more bonus, she had actually provoked such a terrifying thing... How should she describe the other party? It could only be called 'it', right?
"I'm also trying to figure out a way... Anyway, I've covered the mirror in the toilet with a cloth. We'll take the stairs up and down. We'll take turns keeping watch while sleeping, changing shifts every three hours. Don't worry. This room is very close to the fire escape, and it's on the third floor. I parked the car right below. If there's anything wrong, we'll run away immediately. To make it easier to escape, don't take off your coat when you sleep. Tomorrow, we'll go find Mr. Miller and the others to come up with another countermeasure. You go to sleep first. I'll keep watch."
"Cassius... I'm sorry. It's all my fault..."
"It's not your fault... If there's any fault, I'm also responsible. You can sleep at ease. I'll wake you up immediately if there's anything."
After comforting Scarlett and putting her to sleep, Cassius walked to the window, lit a cigarette, and although there was a clock on the wall, he still rolled up his sleeve to look at his watch. It was almost zero o'clock.
Just then, Scarlett's phone rang, and the sound came from the bathroom.
"Ah, I left my phone in the bathroom." She quickly sat up and walked into the bathroom. Remembering what happened last time, Cassius was a little worried and wanted to follow her in to take a look. Unexpectedly, a somewhat aggrieved voice came from the bathroom, "What... Can't we stay in a hotel?"
It was Jane who called.
"Do you think it's safe to stay in a hotel? Don't be kidding! Tell me the hotel address and room number. I'll come right over!"
Cassius sighed, took a deep puff of his cigarette, and walked back to the window.
What should they do in the future?
Scarlett's hand wrapped around his neck and pressed against his back. Cassius said with emotion, "Don't worry, Scarlett... We will definitely survive... definitely..."
However...
Scarlett's reply came from the bathroom:
"Cassius? I accidentally dropped the car keys into the gap between the tiles. Can you come in and help me get them?"
A chill quickly rose from Cassius's feet to the top of his head. Only then did Cassius feel how cold the hand around his neck was...
A scream pierced the silence of the night. The hands of the clock hanging on the wall just landed at the zero - o'clock position.
Just as Violet had premonitioned, Cassius accurately met his end "today".
Hearing the scream, Scarlett quickly rushed out of the bathroom, but... the room was empty. She only saw a cigarette butt that was still emitting a wisp of smoke by the bedside, as if this was the only evidence that Cassius had been here just now.
"Wow - Help, help!"
Her first reaction was to run away, but she remembered Jane's instructions on the phone just now: "Remember, no matter what happens, try not to leave the room. According to my experience, if you are attacked by a ghost and run away immediately, the possibility of dying is much higher than staying where you are."
Thinking carefully, in those horror movies, how many people who ran away after seeing a ghost survived? After all, Jane had experience. Scarlett managed to stay calm with great difficulty, jumped onto the bed, and although she was still wearing her coat, she tightly covered herself with a khaki - colored quilt on the bed and was on guard around the room, praying in her heart that Jane would come over soon.
At the same time, Jane and Orion, who were driving to the hotel, also began to have a dispute over a question.
"Actually, there's something I've always been concerned about."
Sitting in the passenger seat, Orion raised a question: "There's a big difference between Zephyr's death and Alex's. That is the corpse. When it comes to this, you should understand, right? Alex's corpse was presented in a very astonishing posture, but Zephyr completely disappeared in that public restroom. Isn't this strange? Because you said that the same 'thing' caused their deaths."
"Yes, I did say that."
"If what you said is true, then why didn't Zephyr's corpse stay? Isn't this strange? Ah, don't misunderstand. I'm not doubting you. I believe that what you've said so far is true. I just want to talk about my own hypothesis."
"Oh?"
"First of all, for my hypothesis to hold, I need evidence. Violet said you showed her photos of Alex's corpse. Then, can you show them to me too?"
"She didn't describe it to you? Well, that kind of scene... All right, I can show you, but let's wait until we pick them up at the hotel first."
"Actually, I have another question."
"Hmm, you do have a lot of questions."
Orion bit his lip, looked at Jane's profile, and asked, "Miss Parker, that day, the person who called the hotline and asked a lot of strange questions was you, right?"
"Hmm, it was me."
She admitted it so readily that Orion was a bit surprised. At this moment, the hotel was right in front of them. It had to be said that Jane drove really fast. Even the traffic police couldn't catch up with her, so they couldn't give her a ticket.
When they arrived at the room door, Jane immediately knocked on the door and shouted, "It's me. Open the door quickly! Miss Morgan!"
After a while, Scarlett opened the door. As soon as she saw the two of them, she immediately cried and hugged Jane, saying, "Cassius, Cassius is gone... Please save me. I'm so scared, I'm so scared..."
At this time, Orion noticed that Jane pushed the door open, took a look inside the room, and then her expression seemed to change significantly. She said, "Let's go. Leave here immediately."
Orion began to gradually verify his guess. He remembered that when Zephyr died, Jane also took a look at that public restroom. So... was it like this?
Did she see something he couldn't see but didn't say it?
Moreover, regarding the supernatural physique and supernatural abilities, he also thought that Jane didn't tell him the whole truth. She said that she wasn't born with a supernatural physique, and the only basis was that her premonition ability was not as good as her father's. This seemed a bit unnatural. Since her father had a supernatural physique, it was only natural for her, as a daughter, to inherit it. Even if she didn't inherit it completely, why did she flatly deny that she had such a physique?
What this woman said should be true, because what she said could be easily verified by a little investigation. Moreover, Violet was a reporter, and it was very easy for her to find out. But why did she still keep some secrets? Did she not fully trust their siblings? Or was she actually using them?
Back then, he had to give up everything with pain, follow his parents' last instructions, and leave the city where he was born and grew up. For seven years, he had lived like a fugitive, enduring the threat of death that might come one day. Such a life was unimaginable. Nevertheless, for Violet's sake, he had always forced himself to hold on. He absolutely couldn't collapse before her.
If he could really break the curse, he was willing to do anything. He only hoped that they, as siblings, could get real freedom, and Violet could live like a normal person... And Jane, was she a savior to their siblings, or another demon?
First of all, what puzzled him the most was what Jane mentioned about her father. Her father's behavior was completely illogical. As an all - knowing and all - powerful predictor, he should have known his daughter's fate, yet he chose to disappear, leaving her to find him and Violet, completely leaving his daughter to fend for herself. If he wanted to completely abandon his daughter, why did he leave that notebook? What was the meaning of doing this?
After getting back in the car, Scarlett sat shivering in the back seat alone, and Jane handed Orion an envelope and said, "This is what you want to see."
Orion nodded, reached his hand into the envelope, and took out a stack of photos.
"How... how could this be..."
How could it be like this!